This is what I think how the ruler through box with glass trick is done, as performed in the video clip by English magician Pete Firman and Luke Perry.
If you are still puzzled by this puzzle box with a metal ruler or wooden box ruler magic trick, probably you might want to check my view how it is done.
Before I explained how Pete Firman and Luke Perry perform the glass penetration effect, let’s talk briefly about the small wooden box used in this closeup magic trick.
Ching Ling Coin Box
This small rectangle wooden box used by Pete Firman and Luke Perry is known as “Ching Ling Coin Box“.
“Ching Ling Coin Box“ is a small magic prop, where a coin seemingly penetrates through the piece of glass inside the box.
Presentation
The magician opens the Ching Ling Coin Box which has a slot on the cover and the bottom.
There is a piece of glass which fitted snugly inside, that blocks both slots when the box is closed.
The magician drops a coin into the top slot, and magically it seems to go through the glass, and falls out through the bottom slot.
Ching Ling coin Box Secret
The secret of “Ching Ling Coin Box” is there is a hidden pivoted door on one side of the box which can swivel open, as shown below.
The performer secretly presses on the top part of the pivoted door inwards, so it swivels or rotates open.
This crucial part of the trick is well hidden away inside the palm of the magician’s hand.
Below is the Ching Ling Coin Box with the opened pivoted door.
To do the glass penetration trick, the magician tilts the wooden box backward, for the glass piece to slip out halfway onto the palm of his hand.
Now the two slots of the box are not being blocked by the glass piece anymore.
That is how the solid coin can manage to go through both slots.
To end the trick, the magician tilts the box forward for the glass piece to slide back into it
To close the pivoted door back into the wall of the box, he presses the bottom part of the door inwards.
You can find out more about this conjuring trick prop in “Ching Ling Coin Box Explained“.
The effect of this closeup magic trick where a a coin or a ruler goes through glass in box is termed as penetration of solid through solid.
Now let’s get back to Pete Firman’s metal ruler through glass magic trick.
Watch Pete Firman & Luke Perry doing the ruler/sword through glass in box trick:
Normally magicians use coin to perform this penetration through the glass trick. and present the act as I have mentioned above.
They would show the box together with the glass piece, close it and then only present the act by dropping the coin through the slots.
But in Pete Firman and also Luke Perry video clips, they skip the part of showing you the glass piece inside the box first.
On the onset, both magicians are in the midst of performing the penetration effect.
It’s only at the end the act, they show you the glass piece inside the box.
Ruler Through Box With Glass Trick Secret
Magician Pete Firman still uses the secret pivoted door like what I have elaborated in the trick “Steel Ball Through Glass Revealed and Explained” to do his trick.
But he does it differently.
Probably he wants to surprise those who have already known how the Ching Ling Coin Box works.
Conventionally, to perform this coin penetration through glass trick, you have concealed the opened pivoted door and the slipped-out glass piece in your hand.
In his video clip and also Luke Perry’s, they do not hold onto the wooden box closely in their hands, to hide the secret door and the exposed glass piece.
They can just hold the wooden box with their fingers, and safely turn it around without exposing the secret of the trick to the camera.
This is what I think how Pete Firman does it.
He opens the pivoted door slightly, wide enough to grip onto the glass edge, and positions the other glass edge upward inside the box.
While he is still holding the upward glass piece, he inserts the metal ruler through the bottom slot, then through the other slot at the cover, before closing it.
See the illustration below.
The dotted black line is the position of the glass piece inside the box.
The glass edge at the slightly-ajar pivoted door is minimum.
That’s why by just using his fingers is enough to block the pivoted door and the glass edge outside the box.
The edge of the glass piece inside the box is resting onto the metal ruler.
The metal ruler is holding up the glass piece inside the box.
Probably that’s why Pete Firman continues to keep the metal ruler towards the left edge of the slot as seen below.
At the end of the trick, when he pulls out the metal ruler, the glass piece drops down into the box.
At 0:12-0:13 Pete Firman tilts the box downwards and then he covertly uses his left thumb to close up the pivoted door back into wall of the box.
As for Luke Perry, he uses his right hand middle finger to close the slightly opened pivoted door at: 0:10 to 0:12, just before he unclasps it.
This is my opinion how the ruler through box with glass trick or wooden box ruler magic trick is done.
UPDATED: Wooden Puzzle Box With Glass Explained TikTok
Someone has used this blog post in his TikTok video to share the secret behind this ruler through the wooden puzzle box trick. Thanks.
If you are still up in the air as how Pete Firman does the card levitation card trick in Reddit, read this:
I believe Pete Firman uses a steel spring to do the card levitation trick, or rather the card suspension trick.
At 0:23 from the video clip, you can see the steel spring gimmick that attached to the back of the Queen of Clubs card.
Liquid Glass Stage Illusion
Find out the secret of another interesting metal rod through glass trick called “Liquid Glass Illusion“.
